Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Christmas Cupcakes

While I was in Jakarta last December my nephews and I decided to whip up some cupcakes. Actually they had to take some goodies to school for a Christmas party so we had to make about 60 cupcakes actually. Usually my supersis sorts this kind of stuff out but she was out of town and I was left to handle the mission on my own. So we picked up this box of ‘Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge’ mix and set out to bake some cup cakes.

The box stated clearly that I should be able to make these cakes in 3 easy steps, heat, beat, and bake. It did not seem like rocket science so I dove right in.

My sister is a bad ass baker so I was armed with some pretty heavy tools. They were really useful. When an instruction reads add one cup sugar or flour, how is a person supposed to know what cup to measure with? I could not even tell the difference between a serving spoon and table spoon. These puppies make all that easy. Each spoon has standard measurement on it.

First I poured the powder mix into a bowl. That was probably the hardest part because I just dumped it in and a lot of it went up in a cloud of dust so I tried to blow the dust down into the bowl and I just ended up blowing more of the powder mix out. It was stupid. But I did not know how much powder I had lost so I was worried about the current ratio of ingredients.

I added 3 eggs, water, and some oil to the mix. By this time my boys were all over me trying to get at the bowl. When I was a kid and the cook would bake cake I would always get to lick the bowl and spoon. With 3 boys getting at the goods here I was worried if there would be any left to take back to school the next day.

Baking a cake is a social event and I wanted to spend that time with the boys. It is important for them to know that cooking is not just a chick thing and that uncle Avi is good for other things than driving the car, taking them for haircuts, watching TV, and drinking beer. We all kicked it around the bowl for about 10 minutes mixing up the pot and putting some good vibes into it.

While we were stirring they would occasionally pretend to slip a bit and get some chocolate on their hand which they had no other choice but to lick off. I did not say anything at first but then the slips became more frequent. I think the buggers were taking advantage of my ignorance. I know that is nothing something my sister would stand for. I tried to assert some authority but they just laughed at me. For good measure and to add a personal touch to the Christmas cupcakes, I decided to add some raisins. I figured raisins are healthy too so I could snatch some goodie points with the kids teachers.

The mixing by this point was really getting out of hand. There was chocolate on faces, hands, and even feet. I had absolutely no control of the situation so I had to revert to my technological back-up to finish the job. A few minutes with the electronic mixer and I got all the lumps out of the mix. The 3 boys fought over the 2 prongs covered in chocolate. They were licked clean.

These nifty cup cake wrappers were neatly laid out into the baking pan. I had no idea we even had all this cool backing stuff at home. And I must point out that the cup cake wrapper thingies were neatly laid out by my cook. I could never have managed that on my own.

We poured the mix into the cups and sent them into the preheated oven. The tray on the right is mine and the one on the left is my cooks. I do not understand how she did it so neatly. It looks really easy but the chocolate gets all over the place.

I figured they would look okay once they came out of the oven but I was wrong. But it all worked out because I got to keep all the warped cake for myself and the kids to eat at home.

Once the cupcakes had some time to cool they became all warm and fluffy. And they tasted so good too. I have to admit that I broke into a few of the good looking ones too. And for some reason they even tasted better than my deformed cupcakes. I could do with one right now I tell you.

My sister is a bad ass baker so she got all the hookups. I was afraid we would be sending the cupcakes to school just as they were. That was just not Christmassy enough. Then the cook broke out the toppings. We had some white cream icing and Christmas sprinkles cherries and hollies.

Adding decoration to the cupcakes is a group effort as well. We also lost a few cupcakes to some hungry kids in that process. Have you ever seen a kid lick a cupcake by mistake? Then they have to eat it after that. I wonder who they learned that from.

So we hooked up some 60 cupcakes. I only did half the work though, but I did help decorate the trays. Once the boys and I got bored we left the cook with the bulk of the work and the cleaning. I think she was relieved to get us out of the kitchen . I swear I must have a shorter attention span than they do.